Pregnancy is a time of great joy and anticipation; while you’re bursting with happiness most of the time, there are apprehensive moments too as you wonder about the health of your unborn child and pray that there are no unforeseen complications. To this end, the ultrasound scan is a boon in the field of obstetrics. It is safe for both mother and child, and from the fourth week of pregnancy, can be used to determine information and eliminate undesirable conditions.
In the early stages of pregnancy, between the fourth and seventh weeks, ultrasounds confirm the pregnancy through the presence of the gestational sac, the yolk sac and the fetal pole (the heartbeat of the fetus). They also rule out ectopic pregnancies (when the fetus is in the fallopian tube) and molar pregnancies, and in the presence of vaginal bleeding, can tell if there is a risk of miscarriage using the rate of the fetal heartbeat.
As the pregnancy progresses, ultrasound scans are used to determine the size and weight of the fetus, and based on these, calculate the date of conception. They’re also very useful in determining if there are any anomalies or abnormalities in the fetus. Some conditions are preventable by intervention at the right time while others raise the question of whether to terminate the pregnancy or continue with it and raise a child who may have health problems all their life. It’s a decision that only the parents can make, but ultrasound scans help them prepare for what they can expect in the future.
When it comes to determining the sex of the baby, an ultrasound helps only after the 17th week, and even then, the position of the fetus plays a large role in being able to accurately determine if it is a boy or a girl. Some people are anxious to know the sex beforehand because it gives them an opportunity to choose names and prepare for the arrival of the baby. Others are not concerned one way or the other. But there are some countries where determination of the sex of the baby through an ultrasound scan is illegal because female fetuses are aborted immediately.
China and India are notorious for this practice – in the former, the strict one-child policy enforced by the government forces couples to wait for a boy because they want to continue their family lineage; and in the latter, the girl child is seen as a burden in middle and lower class families because they have to shell out large sums of money as “dowry”, a kind of fee paid to the groom’s family, during her marriage.
Isn’t it ironic how something that was invented to make pregnancies easier and safer is also being used as a reason to kill?
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This article is contributed by Susan White, who regularly writes on the subject of rad tech schools. She invites your questions, comments at her email address: susan.white33@gmail.com.
